Seems to be and brains, however what about worth?

The Oppo Reno 8 Professional is a strong, handsome smartphone, but it surely struggles to remain afloat in a sea of competitors and is considerably torpedoed by its uncompetitive asking value.

Oppo’s Reno sequence has been round for a couple of years now and, with a couple of exceptions, it’s caught to the mid-range phase. The telephones have typically prioritized a slick design over partaking in a specs conflict, however we thought final 12 months’s Reno 7 Professional made too many cutbacks to justify the design and excessive value. Does its successor enhance issues? Discover out in Android Authority‘s Oppo Reno 8 Professional review.

Replace, September 2022: This review has been up to date with pricing and worth comparisons following its launch within the UK and different areas throughout Europe.

What it is advisable know concerning the Oppo Reno 8 Professional

Hadlee Simons / Android Authority

• Oppo Reno 8 Professional (8GB/256GB): £599 / €799 / Rs. 45,999
• Oppo Reno 8 Professional (12GB/256GB): Rs. 52,999

The Oppo Reno sequence is the Chinese language model’s signature mid-range household of smartphones, with the Reno 8 Professional being the newest system within the sequence to hit international markets. The sequence is mostly identified for marrying stable specs with a premium design, and the Reno 8 Professional is not any completely different. One huge design-related change in comparison with the Reno 7 Professional cellphone is that the rear RGB notification mild across the camera system is gone.

In any other case, it is best to count on a Mediatek Dimensity 8100-Max chipset, an FHD+ 120Hz OLED display, and a 4,500mAh battery with 80W wired charging capabilities. The Reno 8 Professional additionally packs a triple rear camera system, consisting of a 50MP principal camera, 8MP ultrawide lens, and 2MP macro camera. Oppo can be providing an IP54 score, so whereas it received’t survive a protracted dunk in water, ought to at the least face up to some rain or a splash. It’s an enchancment over the Reno 7 Professional which had no IP score in any respect, however there are telephones in its value tier that push to IP67.

The Oppo Reno 8 Professional appears to be like to marry stable specs with a premium design.

It’s value noting that the Reno 8 Professional in international markets differs considerably from the Chinese language mannequin launched earlier this 12 months, packing the Mediatek chip as a substitute of a Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 SoC seen within the Chinese language variant. The truth is, the worldwide mannequin appears similar to the Reno 8 Professional Plus that topped the sequence in China.

The Reno 8 Professional is available for purchase within the UK and different European areas, in addition to India. Nonetheless, solely the 8GB/256GB mannequin appears to be accessible in Europe. Oppo has confirmed future launches for the Center East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia. It is available in both Glazed Inexperienced (pictured right here) or Glazed Black colorways.

What’s good?

Hadlee Simons / Android Authority

Straight out of the field, it have to be mentioned that the Reno 8 Professional’s design is definitely among the best issues about it. It brings to thoughts the extra premium Oppo Discover X5 Professional when trying on the again, that includes a rear cowl and camera bump made out of a single molded piece of glass. Toss in a flat display, comparatively light-weight physique, and a flat steel body, and also you’ve bought one of many higher mid-range telephones of 2022 from a design perspective. It additionally has Gorilla Glass 5 on the back and front, so the cellphone ought to be adequately protected against drops and knocks.

Flip the cellphone on, and also you’ll be greeted by a fairly good 120Hz FHD+ OLED display, getting vibrant sufficient for outside utilization. The cellphone is ready to a vivid coloration profile out of the field, however I didn’t discover it oversaturated, and you may set it to the “pure” coloration profile as a substitute. There’s additionally a coloration temperature slider for those who discover the show too chilly or heat to your tastes. Apparently, Oppo’s settings menu solely notes 120Hz or 60Hz refresh fee choices. There’s no point out of an adaptive refresh fee, however the 120Hz choice is certainly adaptive (dropping to 90Hz or 60Hz).

The Reno 8 Professional is powered by the Mediatek Dimensity 8100-Max chipset. Geekbench exhibits that the cellphone has single-core CPU scores in the identical vary because the Snapdragon 870, whereas multi-core scores are in the identical ballpark as some Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 telephones. In the meantime, GPU benchmarks present that the cellphone is forward of the Snapdragon 870-toting Poco F4 and simply behind the Snapdragon 888 sequence, however a good distance off Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 telephones. The cellphone nonetheless delivers very spectacular stability beneath stress, and it solely ever bought heat as a substitute of sizzling. In different phrases, the Reno 8 Professional can duke it out with higher mid-range units and older flagships simply advantageous.

3DMarkGeekbench 5GFXBench

Actual-world efficiency is nothing to scoff at, both. Swiping by menus, switching between apps, and basic scrolling have been all dealt with very easily. Video games like Name of Responsibility Cellular, Genshin Affect, and Apex Legends all ran at a fluid tempo. The cellphone is even in a position to deal with demanding GameCube and PS2 video games by way of emulation if that’s one thing you’re into.

When you’ve exhausted the cellphone’s battery, you’ll be glad to know that it packs 80W wired charging by way of an included charger. We noticed a full cost in round 40 minutes, which isn’t absolutely the quickest round however remains to be very speedy. Better of all, Oppo claims that the Reno 8 Professional’s battery degrades to simply over 80% capability after 1,600 charging cycles or roughly 4 years. If this seems to be correct then it’s a fairly spectacular achievement. We’ve seen many telephones hit related reductions in round half the variety of charging cycles. Oppo’s cellphone additionally helps normal quick charging by way of third-party chargers, simply in case you don’t have the proprietary 80W brick available.

The Oppo Reno 8 Professional can deal with just about something you throw at it, whereas 80W charging means you may be again in motion very quickly flat.

The Reno 8 Professional delivers fairly stable endurance within the first place, too. I managed to get nearly seven hours of screen-on time over two days. This era of utilization consisted of watching YouTube movies, utilizing the camera app on and off one morning, about 20 to half-hour of gaming, and looking Reddit. Heavier utilization bought me over 5 hours of screen-on time. That’s nonetheless a good degree of endurance, and extra typical utilization means you’ll solely should cost each different day.

It should even be mentioned that Coloration OS has steadily develop into one of many higher third-party Android skins available on the market. The pores and skin has loads of useful options and nice scope for personalization (e.g. altering icon shapes, system colours, icon identify sizes). There’s additionally the flexibility to cover banner notification particulars when another person is taking a look at your cellphone or conceal the content material of alerts by default when it’s unable to see your face (e.g. at nighttime). Mercifully, I by no means noticed adverts on the system, which is an unlimited enchancment over what we noticed on the Reno 7 Professional, although this will likely differ by area. The software program isn’t excellent, owing to some perplexing choices and a few gimmicky options, however extra on the downsides in a bit.

One different side I actually appreciated was the cellphone’s in-display fingerprint sensor. I nonetheless can’t look ahead to Qualcomm’s 3D Sonic Max tech to come back to extra telephones, however that is about pretty much as good because it will get for a traditional optical in-display fingerprint sensor proper now as I discovered it to be extraordinarily fast and really correct.

What’s not so good?

Hadlee Simons / Android Authority

Coloration OS is nice by way of aesthetics and customizability, however the default system habits may use some tweaks. For one, the app drawer is disabled out of the field. It’s the type of iPhone-wannabe transfer you’d count on to see on a Chinese language smartphone again in 2015 moderately than 2022.

The Reno 8 Professional’s software program additionally has some pre-installed bloatware. This contains Fb, InDriver, LinkedIn, ShareIt, Snapchat, and Viu. You even have some Oppo apps too, similar to Clone Telephone, O Calm down, and Soloop (a video editor). Like the shortage of adverts, the amount of bloat could differ relying in your area, however at the least on our unit most (however not all) of those apps may very well be uninstalled.

Oppo’s software program has a couple of fascinating albeit gimmicky options on faucet too. There are TouchWiz-style hands-free gestures for pausing video playback or scrolling by a web page. Each of those options have been extraordinarily unreliable at first, and I solely actually bought the scrolling gesture working with any kind of regularity. Sadly, scrolling is proscribed to YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Fb — why not the online browser?

Oppo confirmed to Android Authority that the cellphone would solely obtain the usual two OS updates and three years of safety updates. That is fairly disappointing when units just like the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G, Google Pixel 6a, and even the Nothing Telephone 1 obtain three or extra OS upgrades and 4 or extra years of safety patches.

The Reno 8 Professional has some bloatware points and a middling replace promise.

The Reno 8 Professional additionally presents a pair of audio system, delivering greater than sufficient quantity for music and podcasts. Nonetheless, they’re fairly imbalanced as a noticeable quantity of quantity is generated from the bottom-firing audio system.

Oppo Reno 8 Professional camera review

If there’s any space the place it is best to really feel the Reno 8 Professional’s mid-range trappings, it’s within the camera subject. However the excellent news is that the first camera typically delivers in most circumstances. The darkish areas in daytime scenes may be fairly grainy on the odd event, however I discovered that photographs have been normally sharp, with vivid colours, and dependable focusing. The nice major camera efficiency prolonged to low-light circumstances too, nonetheless providing loads of element, a vibrant picture, and lowered ranges of noise.

The unhealthy information? Properly, the secondary rear cameras fall means beneath expectations. That 8MP ultrawide camera is your run-of-the-mill finances shooter. Anticipate a significant enhance in noise in addition to fully completely different colours in comparison with the principle camera. Whereas the first camera delivers saturated colours, the ultrawide shooter goes for drab hues. It doesn’t assist that photographs taken with the ultrawide can typically look horribly oversharpened even in splendid circumstances. Try the 2 rocky seaside photographs beneath to see the most important variations between the 2 cameras. In the meantime, the 2MP macro lens is a token shooter that delivers delicate, low-detail outcomes even in good lighting.

Change to the entrance and Oppo is touting a 32MP selfie camera utilizing the IMX709 RGBW sensor and likewise packing autofocus as a welcome further. Luckily, the selfie camera presents some detailed photographs with vast dynamic vary and little in the way in which of noise throughout the day. The truth is, the selfie camera is able to some stable photographs in combined lighting, too, solely actually falling aside in near-darkness attributable to aggressive noise discount.

A selfie on the seasideSelfie by a window

Oppo additionally made an enormous deal of the truth that its new mid-ranger is supplied with its in-house MarisiliconX imaging chip. The corporate says the chip is liable for lowering noise and enhancing dynamic vary when capturing low-light 4K video or 4K HDR content material. Video high quality is fairly good in our expertise, providing vivid colours, clean body charges when capturing at 60fps, and satisfyingly vast dynamic vary. The cellphone tops out at 4K/30fps, although, which is an enormous step behind one of the best finances camera telephones. Likewise, the included Extremely Regular mode does an excellent job of lowering judder however understandably tops out at 1080p/60fps.

The Reno 8 Professional doesn’t have essentially the most spectacular number of camera modes, however what’s right here is nice. Commonplace fare like an evening mode, portrait mode, professional camera, and panorama are joined by a couple of extras. This contains time-lapse performance, slow-mo, a professional video mode, tremendous regular video, video bokeh, and dual-view video.

Oppo Reno 8 Professional specs

Oppo Reno 8 Professional review: The decision

Hadlee Simons / Android Authority

The Oppo Reno 8 Professional continues the BBK model’s custom of providing standout designs at a mid-range value. However it’s greater than only a feast for the eyes, packing loads of energy, respectable battery life, quick charging, and a succesful principal camera.

Sadly, the cellphone has a couple of drawbacks that actually shouldn’t be anticipated for those who’re paying £600 on a smartphone. Wi-fi charging can be good, even when some units on this value bracket don’t have it. However IP67-68 water resistance has quietly develop into a fixture on this value phase whereas some cheaper mid-rangers additionally pack the choice nowadays. Splash resistance simply doesn’t reduce it anymore whenever you’re frankly paying flagship cash for a smartphone.

Likewise, the low-effort secondary cameras and a middling replace pledge are additionally main disappointments for the amount of money you’re paying. These downsides are additionally galling in mild of the truth that the Reno 8 Professional is definitely costlier than its already-expensive predecessor. Sadly for Oppo, the competitors can be stronger than ever.

The Reno 8 Professional will get lots proper, but it surely ought to provide way more for the worth.

Coming it on the identical value is the cellphone’s principal competitor: the Google Pixel 6 (£599). The truth is, the usual Pixel 6 retails for €649 in some areas, making it less expensive than the Reno 8 Professional in different European nations. Total, the Pixel 6 is simply an outright higher handset and stays among the best worth telephones you should buy. In the meantime, for those who’re craving energy, the OnePlus 10T (£629) is unpolished however offers a large efficiency increase with its Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus chipset.

Issues get even more durable for the Reno 8 Professional whenever you evaluate it to even cheaper telephones, although. Maybe essentially the most broadly accessible different to the Oppo Reno 8 Professional is the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G (£399). Samsung’s mid-ranger brings an IP67 score, a extra spectacular replace pledge, and a sharper ultrawide camera. You do, nevertheless, miss out on sooner wired charging speeds, whereas the Exynos 1280 is a stable chipset however nonetheless a way off the Dimensity 8100-Max.

The Poco F4 (£379) is one other cellphone value taking a look at for those who’re on the hunt for options. It has a less expensive price ticket than Oppo’s cellphone, whereas the Snapdragon 870 nonetheless delivers an important degree of efficiency. The 2 telephones even have loads in frequent, similar to related battery sizes, speedy wired charging, splash resistance, and 120Hz FHD+ OLED screens. Equally, the Poco X4 GT (€379), launched because the Redmi K50i in India, is one other Reno 8 Professional different it is best to have in mind if you’d like loads of energy for the worth, plus a sooner refresh fee show and a bigger battery. Nonetheless, you’ll should make do with an LCD display, a much less premium design, and a much less aggressive principal camera.

Don’t miss: One of the best cellphone offers

Don’t thoughts making an attempt a model new producer? Then the Nothing Telephone 1 (£399) could be up your alley. Nothing’s first cellphone nails the Reno 8 Professional’s principal power of delivering nice design within the mid-range house. It additionally packs a couple of benefits over the Reno 8 Professional similar to wi-fi charging, an extended replace dedication, and a less expensive price ticket. In saying so, Oppo’s cellphone presents sooner wired charging, extra software program options, and improved efficiency.

Lastly, Google’s Pixel 6a (£399) is one other cheaper system value contemplating as a substitute. The cellphone packs a fairly beefy Tensor chipset, a dual-camera setup powered by Google’s acclaimed software program, an extended replace dedication, IP67 score, and Pixel-exclusive software program options. And it’s considerably cheaper than the Reno cellphone. Sadly, the Pixel 6a lacks quick wired charging and a excessive refresh fee show you get on the Pixel 6.

Oppo Reno 8 Professional

Highly effective processor • Premium design • Good principal camera

The Oppo Reno 8 Professional marries stable specs with a premium design.

There’s lots to love concerning the Reno 8 Professional, such because the Dimensity 8100-Max processor, slick design, and nice principal camera.

High Oppo Reno 8 Professional questions and solutions

Does the Oppo Reno 8 Professional have an IP score?Does the Reno 8 Professional have a headphone jack?What sort of glass safety does the Reno 8 Professional have?

The Reno 8 Professional has Gorilla Glass 5 on the back and front.

Is the Oppo Reno 8 Professional a 5G cellphone?Feedback